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When Rainbow Arts bring out a shoot-'em-up, they don't worry about such piffling details as innovation; no, they borrow a load of tried and trusted ideas, throw them together into an outstanding little bundle and call it X-Out.

Nothing much happens that hasn't happened before - jump into the cockpit of a futuristic amphibious craft, arm it to the teeth with whatever gadgetry the local weapons shop will allow then get out there to kick ass. Eight levels of blasting, bombing and general destructive high jinks lie between the beleaguered pilot and the end of the game, with a store at the end of each stage. Beginning with 12,000 units of currency, appropriate kit must be purchased before the enemy can be tackled. The range of available items is quite considerable, and includes single, double and triple shot cannons of varying power, small, medium or large missiles and laser-firing drone ships, not to mention secondary weapons such as smart bombs and even extra craft, should you feel incapable of finishing with one life (and if your present currency level feels up to it!). Points make prices in this game, because the score you tally up can be converted to cash at the end of each stage, allowing you to build up your defences (and offences) even further at the expense of your points tally.

Rainbow Arts are really starting to get their act together these days, firstly with the tremendous addictive Rock 'N Roll and now with what must be classed as one of the best sideways shoot-'em-ups to hit the Amiga in a long time. Horizontal scrollers are becoming rarer by the minute thanks to the likes of Xenon II, and although X-Out (pronounced Crossout) has lifted ideas from the aforementioned classic, namely the shop section, a lack of originality is made up for with superb presentation and gameplay. The game kicks off with a marvellous animated introduction, with music reminiscent of the kind of track featured on Battlestar Galactica, the graphic and sonic quality continuing throughout.

Sprites are generally on the small side, but all are very well animated and have a realistic metallic sheen to them, and the end-of-level guardians are fantastic - especially the first one which looks as thought it's been built using parts from an octopus and a dead horse's skull!

To sum up, a blaster which looks great, sounds excellent and contains some of the toughest aliens in the bizz, making X-Out an absolute corker of a game. In my opinion, it's even better than my old Amiga fave, and one of Rainbow Arts' best releases, Denaris - and who'd have thought they could better that one!

A very difficult shoot-'em-up which holds no real surprises, X-Out still manages to be one of the best of its kind on the Amiga.